Earmarks

Of all the earmarks exposed in this latest Congressional spending spree, the one that shines the brightest to me is the earmark shelling out two million dollars to "promote astronomy" in Hawaii.

Yes, there is a fancy telescope array on a mountaintop on the big island already in operation, and well-funded by tax dollars. It's called the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) run by a non-profit organization which operates a world class 3.6 meter telescope atop Mauna Kea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano rising 4,200 meters above the Pacific ocean. It is funded according to a tripartite agreement between Canada, France and the University of Hawaii signed in June 1974. And the University of Hawaii gets it's folding cash from guess who.

So what's this two million for? So all of Hawaii's chillin can go out and buy a telescope?

Like everywhere else, Hawaii's power grid is aging, rapidly being overstressed by increasing demands for power. A sensible use of free tax dollars would be to repair and upgrade the grid, but instead, Hawaii's Senator Inouye wants money to "promote astronomy".

He'll be seeing lots of stars - without a telescope - if the power grid fails.... and that fancy French-Canadian telescope will be blind.

A point to ponder... just how is it that a Hawaiian University could sign a "tripartite agreement" with two foreign powers? Is that not the job the the federal government?